Sunday, January 6, 2008

"Where old stories are knit into the new."

I love the tag line for A New Yarn, a new yarn store in Seattle, Washington. Where old stories are knit into the new. Isn't that nice!

Susan and I headed out at 9:30 yesterday morning for Northgate, to check out A New Yarn. They open at 10:00 on Saturdays and we wanted to leave before the Seahawks traffic got started. Who wants to be stuck in traffic when there is a yarn store to go to.

Here they are. A charming, warm, and welcoming yarn store. We were greeted by Kathleen and immediately felt at home. I told her I had been communicating with Claudia and that I wanted to take pictures for my blog.

You see, all of the profits from this yarn store benefit abused women and children, through the free educational and support groups offered by Northwest Family Life. Kathleen told me that there are two non-profit yarn stores on the West Coast. The other one is in San Francisco and benefits the local humane society. What a lovely way to raise funds for such an important service.

There is a very good selection of yarn. There are wools, wool blends, cottons, novelty yarns, and synthetic fiber yarns as well. Everything is so well laid out and the yarns are easy to view, touch, and think about. The lighting is nice and bright, and with all of the big windows, there is a lot of natural light as well.

They feature a yarn of the month, which this month is Schulana Merino-Cotton 90, which is 53% wool and 47% cotton. It's in the brown bookcase in the center of this picture. These are very lovely yarns.

There is yarn displayed in old suitcases and baskets, all providing a clear view of what you are looking for. Everything is laid out with such charm and good cheer.Now look at this ... a Kids' Room. Any mother of young children will tell you how hard it is to shop when the kiddies are bored. Well, this kids' room is well stocked, and the kiddies will be entertained while mom is enjoying her visit through A New Yarn. This is a delightful room for the kiddies. As I said, this is too cool. What a thoughtful idea.

I asked Kathleen where I could find the sock yarn and she said "it's in the piano bench." Look at this. I found some Wildfoote yarn in Blue Flannel, which is what I have been looking for. (I got the last two too!)

A New Yarn has books, magazines, needles, notions, and individual patterns for sale as well. Now on the right side of this photo you can see a basket in front of the window. Well, there are several baskets, and they are full of a variety of yarns. These are donations of the left over yarn we knitters end up with after finishing up a project. These yarns are for sale by the bag full. You can fill up a grocery bag full of acrylic yarn for only $3.00, or a bag of wool, cotton or novelty yarns for $10.00. Kathleen said these sell out fast.

Kathleen showed me some of the donations A New Yarn has received. As you can see, they get full bags of yarn so you can find what you need for any project. This is a full service yarn store.

I was pleased with what I found. I got the rose colored bulky weight yarn for a baby blanket (which is half done, by the way), the two skeins of Wildfoote, some Lion Brand Jiffy for another baby blanket, some Red Heart Fiesta for Operation Holiday Stockings, and some Austermann Moda Color for a scarf for me. Not bad, and the price was very reasonable.

Susan, the hat and scarf expert, was pleased with her purchase as well. She's on to knitting more hats and scarfs for the homeless. She is just too cool.

We were able to get back to Bellevue before the insane Seahawks traffic got too bad. It was a great trip, and a lovely way to spend Saturday.